Mandatory use of the FVS

Use of the FVS is mandatory for APRA-regulated funds and retirement savings account (RSA) providers.

Exempt Public Sector Super Schemes may choose to be listed on the register.

Updates to the FVS are only accepted through the FVSU (lodge) web service. Any super provider not able to access the FVSU web service must have alternate arrangements in place with a third-party provider.

To support the voluntary adoption of the standard by a life insurance company, the ATO may publish details of annuity products in the register.

SMSFs are not included in the FVS. Payments to SMSFs will continue to be made at the fund level.

Unique superannuation identifier (USI)

A USI is used to identify super funds and individual super fund products for electronic rollovers and contributions. A super fund may have one USI or it may have a USI for each product. The USI allows monies to be paid to funds at the product or sub-fund level instead of fund level.

A fund is not limited by the regulations regarding the number of USIs it can nominate per registrable superannuation entity. However there are practical consequences flowing from a large number of USIs, including:

the extra administrative burden of maintaining the associated fund details

the potential to make it harder (rather than easier) for employers and funds to deal with you electronically.

You should consider minimising the number of USIs, bank accounts and service addresses a sender has to deal with. Wherever possible, it makes good business sense to shield external parties from the internal complexity of your systems, reducing the likelihood of allocation errors.

Electronic service address

The regulations state that a trustee must provide one electronic service address for each USI of an entity, which will be a gateway intermediary service as its end-point. A second electronic service address may be provided for a USI if a fund chooses a different gateway intermediary for contributions and rollovers. In this instance, the ATO will treat the contributions address as the primary service address and the rollover address as the secondary service address.

The ATO has approved the use of a uniform resource locator (URL) as one kind of digital address for the receiving electronic communications – see Alternate electronic service address.

Primary and secondary data

In the register:

data to be used for contributions is recorded as primary data

data to be used for rollovers is recorded as secondary data.

Only some data fields will have primary and secondary fields. Where a fund only provides primary data, this will by default be used for secondary (rollover) messages and payments.

Correcting errors

The fund trustee has the legal responsibility to correct errors.

If you discover a significant error in the register and this error is likely to cause rollovers or contributions to fail or be misdirected, you should immediately re-lodge an update to the USI record via the web service. The register will then be corrected.

Where there is an error in critical information, such as effective dates, financial institution account details or service addresses, you should also advise the ATO:

Security and fraud risks

A threat agent (internal staff and/or external collaborator) could attempt to create false USIs on your behalf or change the bank account or service address details of authentic USIs.

A threat agent (internal staff, external collaborator and/or hacker) could try to change, steal or otherwise compromise the bank account details and other identifiers of funds by accessing your systems or intercepting your communications/download sessions with the ATO.

You should consider how to mitigate risks to your systems. At a minimum, ensure you follow the lodgment and verification processes and security guidelines in the Fund Validation Service user guide.

You are responsible for applying appropriate fraud prevention and security controls within your environment. The ATO has in place a comprehensive set of security and fraud controls to mitigate the risks associated with managing the register and associated interactions with you on data collection and dissemination.

You'll see a list of businesses already authorised for at least one activity. Check if the business you're seeking to appoint already has a current business appointment from your fund. If so you don't need to take any further action.

If the business does not appear:

click Appoint new business

enter the ABN of the business you want to appoint

select Continue.

Under the Business Details heading you'll see a list of online functionality. Select Lodge super product details.

Save the record. You have now granted the other entity the authority to update the FVS register on your behalf.

The Access Manager permissions for these services are displayed with the following descriptions.

Web-service name

Access Manager description

Business appointments

FVS Lodge (FVSU)

Lodge super product details

Available

FVS List (FVSL)

List super products

Available

FVS Get (FVSG) – Single

View super product details

Available

FVS Get (FVSG) – Bulk

Not displayed

Not available

If authorisation of an agent is withdrawn, you should remove the business appointment using Access Manager.

Our commitment to you

We are committed to providing you with accurate, consistent and clear information to help you understand your rights and entitlements and meet your obligations.

If you follow our information and it turns out to be incorrect, or it is misleading and you make a mistake as a result, we will take that into account when determining what action, if any, we should take.

Some of the information on this website applies to a specific financial year. This is clearly marked. Make sure you have the information for the right year before making decisions based on that information.

If you feel that our information does not fully cover your circumstances, or you are unsure how it applies to you, contact us or seek professional advice.